News

In a primetime speech before the US Congress on September 8, President Obama announced proposal called the “American Jobs Act”. The proposal includes a major new $15 billion initiative called “Project Rebuild” that is targeted towards Rehabilitating Homes, Businesses and Communities. The proposal builds on the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

National Housing & Rehabilitation Association Executive Director Thom Amdur announced today the recipients of NH&RA’s 2011 Affordable Housing Vision Awards: Sandra Henriquez, Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Boston accountant and past NH&RA President John Mackey. The pair will be honored at a ceremony on Monday, November 14 at the Intercontinental Hotel in conjunction with NH&RA’s Fall Developers Forum.

Documenting the economic impact of a New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation is an important component of determining the effectiveness that project might have on the low-income communities it intends to serve. Yet oftentimes Community Development Entities (CDEs) do not have the adequate resources to accurately measure the economic impact a project might have, thereby compromising the integrity of the project and future award opportunities. In a recent article, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP addresses the importance of community impact assessments on NMTC deals.

The Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC) has released the draft 2012 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) and a summary of proposed changes to the plan.

The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association has announced eighteen finalists in seven categories for this year’s “Timmy Awards,” which will be presented at an awards luncheon and ceremony on November 15 in Boston, Massachusetts in conjunction with the association’s Annual Fall Developers Forum.

HUD’s Economic and Market Analysis Division has prepared Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis for the Tyler and El Paso, Texas market areas.

HUD recently announced Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Seattle as the cities to receive the first grants under the new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative which aims to transform distressed neighborhoods into sustainable mixed-income communities. These grants are meant to build upon the successes of HOPE VI which provided support for the rehabilitation and preservation of public and HUD-assisted housing in order to better approach concentrated poverty.

A new report released by HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research titled “Memphis Murder Revisited: Do Housing Vouchers Cause Crime” examines the link between the presence of Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) holders in a neighborhood and crime.

U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK), chairman of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, called for President Barack Obama to expand the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) as part of his jobs initiative.

Responding to this need for better coordinated Federal rental policy, the White House’s Domestic Policy Council established the interagency Rental Policy Working Group in 2010.

The White House’s Rental Policy Working Group (a joint effort between the White House, HUD, the IRS and USDA RD) has issued its preliminary administrative alignment recommendations.

Missouri’s state legislature recently advanced a bill that modifies provisions of existing tax credit programs in a manner consistent with the recommendations of the Tax Credit Review Commission and establishes new tax incentive programs.